Wednesday, January 03, 2007

How to obtain great publicity for your business

Point 1 -- Why media publicity is important.

The media is a magnifier. Great word-of-mouth referrals of course produce profitable business opportunities. Great media publicity multiplies this process because the media's credibility combines with its extensive circulation/viewership/distributorship within your market community. (The converse, of course, applies to bad publicity).

Independent news media has credibility with your market because readers/viewers perceive it as valid; journalists are skilled at communicating messages effectively and are able to tell your story often better than you can.

And, finally, positive media publicity is 'free' in that you can't buy it or pay for it. (It isn't totally free in that unless you are skilled in the art of publicity seeking, you will need to engage a professional public relations specialist or at minimum a part-time writer/communicator to help you out; but the costs of these services in relation to their potential return make them perhaps your wisest marketing investment.)

The biggest problem with media publicity is you cannot 'control' it -- you cannot ask a reporter to write a good story for you and have it published at exactly the time and in exactly the format you wish. (The rules are different for advertorial-type features; but these are different issues and I will cover them later).

The challenge in determining the best approach to take is that every business has a different story to tell; and finding the correct 'angle' requires a mixture of creativity and understanding of your business and market, as well as the characteristics of the relevant media outlets.

Please feel free to call me at 888-432-3555 ext 224 or email buckshon@constructionnrgroup.com if you would like me to explore some ideas of specific relevance to your own business.

About social networking

Printed editions

This will cost you some money -- $49.50 per year (plus GST in Canada), but is worth every cent if you are in our service areas; or simply wish to see quality local construction industry journalism. You can subscribe (in Canada) to Ottawa Construction News or the GTA Construction Report or (in the U.S.) to Triad/Triangle Construction News or Charlotte Construction News (both in North Carolina). You can use this online subscription order form, or, if you perfer a personal touch, just email me at buckshon@cnrgp.com

Bid shopping

JavaScript needs to be enabled for polling to work.
Online Surveys by Constant Contact.